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A review by theravenkingx
Educated by Tara Westover
5.0
5 stars and a heart.
At the end of every year, out of habit, I go through all the lists major influencers share on the internet of their favorite books of the year, and from those I add the books that intrigue me the most to my own TBR for the coming year. Educated is one those books. I discovered it when I read a great review of it by Bill Gates himself, last year. It took me a while to get my hands on this book but i am happy to announce that all the efforts, all the waiting was totally worth it.
Educated is a story of a woman's struggle, her endurance, and her illuminating journey that ends with her discovering the meaning of positive liberty and what is like to emancipate yourself from mental slavery. Her endeavor to find what it means to be truly free reminded me of a quote from my favourite Netflix TV show: The OA
TARA faces multiple challenges and set backs throughout this difficult and arduous journey and in doing so she teaches us the transformative power of education that can break the status quo and bring the light in from the crevices of the shattered glass made entirely of fallacies and false beliefs.
There is a word in Greek that describes perfectly the feeling this book ignited in me: charmolypi, which means to feel happy and sad at the same time - a joy-making sorrow. Tara's story was sad but also empowering. It inculcated hope and faith in me that If she can survive such dire circumstances of her life then I am fully capable of dealing with the minor issues of my own life. All I have to do is man up and find the light that's already in me.
It's wasn't an easy read, though. All the emotional and physical abuse she suffered and the way she described it with all the gory details made me so squeamish that I wanted to put the book down and forget about it. But I made it. it was a hard, but I made it through, and I am glad to own this gem of a book.
Definitely recommend it, if you can handle the bloody and gory stuff.
Shawn had more power over me than I could have possibly imagined. He had defined me to myself, and there is no greater power than that.
At the end of every year, out of habit, I go through all the lists major influencers share on the internet of their favorite books of the year, and from those I add the books that intrigue me the most to my own TBR for the coming year. Educated is one those books. I discovered it when I read a great review of it by Bill Gates himself, last year. It took me a while to get my hands on this book but i am happy to announce that all the efforts, all the waiting was totally worth it.
Educated is a story of a woman's struggle, her endurance, and her illuminating journey that ends with her discovering the meaning of positive liberty and what is like to emancipate yourself from mental slavery. Her endeavor to find what it means to be truly free reminded me of a quote from my favourite Netflix TV show: The OA
You are not free because you can see the ocean. Captivity is a mentality, something you carry with you.
TARA faces multiple challenges and set backs throughout this difficult and arduous journey and in doing so she teaches us the transformative power of education that can break the status quo and bring the light in from the crevices of the shattered glass made entirely of fallacies and false beliefs.
There is a word in Greek that describes perfectly the feeling this book ignited in me: charmolypi, which means to feel happy and sad at the same time - a joy-making sorrow. Tara's story was sad but also empowering. It inculcated hope and faith in me that If she can survive such dire circumstances of her life then I am fully capable of dealing with the minor issues of my own life. All I have to do is man up and find the light that's already in me.
You are not fool's gold, shinning only under a particular light. Whomever you become and what ever you make yourself into, that is who you always were. It was always in you. You are gold.
It's wasn't an easy read, though. All the emotional and physical abuse she suffered and the way she described it with all the gory details made me so squeamish that I wanted to put the book down and forget about it. But I made it. it was a hard, but I made it through, and I am glad to own this gem of a book.
Definitely recommend it, if you can handle the bloody and gory stuff.